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Would my kid have any problem living in a simpler society (hunter-gatherer group) ? Definitively not. I know some children like that. Children who cannot keep

Would my kid have any problem living in a simpler society (hunter-gatherer group) ? Definitively not. I know some children like that. Children who cannot keep quiet while hunting would not fare well in a hunter-gatherer society. Indeed, young members of a hunting party who move around too much and make too much noise are in danger of being eaten themselves by larger predator animals. I'm not sure that there has ever been a selection advantage to having difficulty maintaining attention focus.

SpaceCadetJones 11y ago
The thing with ADHD is that the difficulty to maintain attention is often highly situational. As someone diagnosed I personally have a lot of trouble focusing on a lot, but when it comes to something like juggling or playing counter-strike it's pretty remarkable how well I suddenly tune everything out and get extremely engaged. Probably more so than a "neurotypical" person and their preferred activities. I'm also generally hyperactive, but not impulsive. I move around constantly at home, but in other social settings I'm able to sit still if it's socially unacceptable for me to be walking around or fidgeting.
- sathackr 11y ago
  Yep. Get me in front of KSP(or World of Warcraft in the past) and 14 hours will have passed without me even looking up. My older sister hates fidgeting. She punches me(somewhat playfully, on the arm/leg/etc...) every time I start 'bouncing'. I generally wind up with a few bruises when we have lunch. My leg will unconsciously bounce, or I'll start tapping, she'll give me a warning, I'll stop. Then in 30 seconds unconsciously start again. WHAP!. I might remember for a minute this time. Rinse repeat.
- eric_h 11y ago
  Agreed. I've been a big fan of billiards for 20 years and I think a part of the reason is that playing well basically requires very short bursts of absolute focus, something that I'm good at. Pool is hands down the only game I can play for 14 hours straight and not get bored/tired of playing at all.
fasteo 11y ago
If I imagine my kid hunting, I see him quiet, hyper-focused, fully committed to get the beast down.
- falcolas 11y ago
  If I imagine myself hunting, I can't. I see myself too focused on creating the perfect spear (and never achieving it because I "squirrel" off onto another spear building tangent) to actually bother myself with the act of hunting. Not to mention, one of the common symptoms of ADHD is bumping into objects when walking around. I can't imagine that going well on a hunting trip.
  - sathackr 11y ago
    But once you got to the point of near starvation, assuming you were still physically capable, I bet you would become an excellent hunter. Until your appetite is satiated. Then it's off to lizard chasing in the middle of building your shelter.
- lfowles 11y ago
  The thing about ADHD is that you really don't get to pick what you hyperfocus on. Some days you may be focused on getting that beast, other days you may find an interesting termite mound that grabs your attention while on the hunt.
  - panglott 11y ago
    Termites are an excellent food source.
mattchew 11y ago
At least sometimes kids with ADD symptoms are capable of very focused attention on the things they're actually interested in.
mattchew 11y ago
Another thought about ADD/ADHD in the olden days. I'm inclined to doubt that these traits could have been a serious handicap in earlier times if we didn't really notice this as a template of behavior until recently. People have talked about other kinds of mental disorders, not necessarily using modern names, for a long time. I don't know of any anachronistic terms that mean the same thing as what we mean by ADHD today, or older sources that made much recognition of ADHD symptoms at all. Happy to be corrected here.

SpaceCadetJones 11y ago

The thing with ADHD is that the difficulty to maintain attention is often highly situational. As someone diagnosed I personally have a lot of trouble focusing on a lot, but when it comes to something like juggling or playing counter-strike it's pretty remarkable how well I suddenly tune everything out and get extremely engaged. Probably more so than a "neurotypical" person and their preferred activities. I'm also generally hyperactive, but not impulsive. I move around constantly at home, but in other social settings I'm able to sit still if it's socially unacceptable for me to be walking around or fidgeting.

sathackr 11y ago
Yep. Get me in front of KSP(or World of Warcraft in the past) and 14 hours will have passed without me even looking up. My older sister hates fidgeting. She punches me(somewhat playfully, on the arm/leg/etc...) every time I start 'bouncing'. I generally wind up with a few bruises when we have lunch. My leg will unconsciously bounce, or I'll start tapping, she'll give me a warning, I'll stop. Then in 30 seconds unconsciously start again. WHAP!. I might remember for a minute this time. Rinse repeat.
eric_h 11y ago
Agreed. I've been a big fan of billiards for 20 years and I think a part of the reason is that playing well basically requires very short bursts of absolute focus, something that I'm good at. Pool is hands down the only game I can play for 14 hours straight and not get bored/tired of playing at all.

fasteo 11y ago

If I imagine my kid hunting, I see him quiet, hyper-focused, fully committed to get the beast down.

falcolas 11y ago
If I imagine myself hunting, I can't. I see myself too focused on creating the perfect spear (and never achieving it because I "squirrel" off onto another spear building tangent) to actually bother myself with the act of hunting. Not to mention, one of the common symptoms of ADHD is bumping into objects when walking around. I can't imagine that going well on a hunting trip.
- sathackr 11y ago
  But once you got to the point of near starvation, assuming you were still physically capable, I bet you would become an excellent hunter. Until your appetite is satiated. Then it's off to lizard chasing in the middle of building your shelter.
lfowles 11y ago
The thing about ADHD is that you really don't get to pick what you hyperfocus on. Some days you may be focused on getting that beast, other days you may find an interesting termite mound that grabs your attention while on the hunt.
- panglott 11y ago
  Termites are an excellent food source.

mattchew 11y ago

At least sometimes kids with ADD symptoms are capable of very focused attention on the things they're actually interested in.

mattchew 11y ago

Another thought about ADD/ADHD in the olden days. I'm inclined to doubt that these traits could have been a serious handicap in earlier times if we didn't really notice this as a template of behavior until recently. People have talked about other kinds of mental disorders, not necessarily using modern names, for a long time. I don't know of any anachronistic terms that mean the same thing as what we mean by ADHD today, or older sources that made much recognition of ADHD symptoms at all. Happy to be corrected here.